Note to Posterity: 79 Ministers in office but no 15th Lok Sabha until June 1 2009!

May 29, 2009 — drsubrotoroy

The Government of India’s 79 Ministers have taken to their offices like bees to honey yet the 15th Lok Sabha that the people of India elected a fortnight ago is still three days from being convened.

In other words, people have been taking oaths and entering offices as Ministers even before they have taken their oaths or their seats in the 15th Lok Sabha which accords the Government its political legitimacy by its confidence!

Let posterity recall that the 15th Lok Sabha was made to needlessly wait from May 16 2009 until June 1 2009 and despite this the Government formed itself and entered office during that time.  It cannot be something that helps the psychology or morale of  our elected representatives nor be something conducive to the smooth working of the House.

It is all a terrible constitutional muddle  which I doubt the PM or his party or Government, or even the Opposition, will admit to or want to clear up on their own but shall probably have to await a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of India telling them  what  parliamentary law is in due course.

Subroto Roy

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How to Design a Better Cabinet for the Government of India

May 29, 2009 — drsubrotoroy

Cabinet Government has become far too unwieldy and impractical in India, and the new Cabinet chosen by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh over almost a fortnight  — of some 79 Ministers, almost certainly the largest number in the world — may be destined to be so as well.   If there is going to be “fiscal prudence” as the PM and Finance Minister have declared, it really needs to start at the top with the Union Government itself.  Remember we also have more than two dozen State Governments plus Union Territories and  myriad local governments too.

Here then is an example of a better-designed Cabinet for the Government of India with Cabinet Ministers in bold-face, others not so:

Prime Minister

–         Parliamentary Affairs

–         Intra-Government Liaison

Defence War/Forces  (Raksha, Yudh/Fauj)

–    Army

–    Navy & Coast Guard

–    Air Force & Strategic Forces

–    Ordnance

Finance

–         Money & Banking

–         Accountant General

–         Planning

Home Affairs

–         Law & Justice

–         Internal Security

–     Disaster Management & Civil Defence

–         Archaeology, Art & Culture

Foreign

–         Commerce & Tourism

–         Overseas Indians

–         International Organisations

Transport

–         Railways

–         Roads & Highways

–         Shipping & Waterways

–         Civil Aviation

–         Urban Development

Agriculture & Food

–         Rural Development

–         Water, Flood Control & Irrigation

–         Environment

–         Forestry & Tribal Affairs

Industry

–    Competition and Monopoly-Control

–      Steel

–      Textiles

–      Power

–      Petroleum and Energy

–      Chemicals & Fertilizers

–       Coal and Mines

–      Communications and IT

Education

–    Schools

–     Higher Education

–     Vocational Education

–      Sports

–      Science and Technology

Labour & Employment

Health and Human Services

–        Housing

–         Women and Child Development

–         Social Security

There are just eleven Cabinet Ministers (in bold-face above) including the PM, so, along with the Cabinet Secretary, they could sit with ease around a normal table which should help the process of deliberation.

This document has arisen out of one during my work as an adviser to Rajiv Gandhi  in his last months in 1990-1991 though the latter never reached him; I had intended to talk to him about its contents but it was not to be.

It may be profitably read alongside my “Distribution of Government Expenditure in India”, which is part of my ongoing research and was released in the public interest last year.

Subroto Roy, Kolkata

Posted in Governance, Government accounting, Government of India, India's Cabinet Government, India's protocols, India's airforce, India's Budget, India's bureaucracy, India's Government Budget Constraint, India's Government Expenditure, India's Politics, India's Public Finance, Manmohan Singh, Public Choice/Public Finance, Public property waste fraud, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi. Leave a Comment »